Andrew Litton is Music Director of Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Artistic Director of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest, and Conductor Laureate of Britain’s Bournemouth Symphony. In June 2012 he was named Artistic Advisor of the Colorado Symphony assuming artistic leadership of the Denver based orchestra. He guest conducts the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies and has a discography of over 100 recordings with awards including America’s Grammy, France’s Diapason d’Or, and many British and other honors. First appointed Bergen Philharmonic Music Director in 2003, Litton will head the Orchestra in 2015 when it marks its 250th Anniversary. In recognition of Litton’s work with the Bergen Philharmonic, Norway’s King Harald knighted Litton with Norway’s Royal Order of Merit. Under Litton the Bergen Philharmonic made a BBC Proms London début, appeared at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin’s Philharmonie, and New York’s Carnegie Hall - the capstone of its first American tour in 40 years. Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic record for the BIS and Hyperion labels, winning extraordinary critical acclaim for a series of Mendelssohn recordings and for its Stravinsky series. Last season Litton made debuts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Orquestra Sinfonica de Galicia, and Beethoven Orchester Bonn. He returned to Netherlands Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, MDR Leipzig, National Symphony (Washington, D.C.), Vancouver Symphony and the Colorado Symphony. Litton regularly appears at the BBC Proms, London, last season leading the Royal Philharmonic in a concert celebrating the legacy of Serge Koussevitsky. This season Litton conducts the BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham, Bournemouth, Tokyo Metropolitan, Melbourne and New Zealand Symphonies, amongst others. Litton participated with the Bergen Philharmonic in the founding of Bergen’s Den Nye Oper, of which he is also Artistic Advisor, conducting critically acclaimed, sold-out performances of Tosca, Carmen, Flying Dutchman, and La Bohème. Litton has conducted many of the world’s finest opera companies including, the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Australian Opera. An accomplished pianist, Litton often conducts from the keyboard and enjoys performing chamber music with his orchestra colleagues. Mr. Litton was Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony from 1988-1994, bringing it on its first American tour and producing 14 recordings, including the Grammy winning Belshazzar’s Feast. Music Director of the Dallas Symphony from 1994-2006, he hired over one third of the players, led the orchestra on three major European tours, appeared four times at Carnegie Hall, created a children’s television series broadcast nationally and in widespread use in school curricula, produced 28 recordings, and helped raise the orchestra’s endowment from $19 million to $100 million.. Mr. Litton’s Dallas Symphony Rachmaninov Piano Concerto recordings with Stephen Hough, widely hailed as the best since the composer’s own, won the Classical Brits/BBC Critics Award. Mr Litton also received a Grammy nomination for his recording of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd with the New York Philharmonic and Patti Lupone. Andrew Litton, a graduate of the Fieldston School, New York, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard in piano and conducting. The youngest-ever winner of the BBC International Conductors Competition, he served as Assistant Conductor at Teatro alla Scala and Exxon/Arts Endowment Assistant Conductor for the National Symphony under Rostropovich. His many honors in addition to Norway’s Order of Merit include an honorary Doctorate from the University of Bournemouth, Yale University’s Sanford Medal, and the Elgar Society Medal.
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